--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The trouble with this country is that…" description: "\"The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, \"The trouble with this country is…\"\" — Sinclair Lewis" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2af/sinclair-lewis-1945_america_the-trouble-with-this-country-is-that-th_1288904.png" --- # The trouble with this country is that there are too many… ![“The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, "The trouble with this country is…"” quote by Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2af/sinclair-lewis-1945_america_the-trouble-with-this-country-is-that-th_1288904.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2af/sinclair-lewis-1945_america_the-trouble-with-this-country-is-that-th_1288904.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2af/sinclair-lewis-1945_america_the-trouble-with-this-country-is-that-th_1288904.png) > “The trouble with this country is that there are too many people going about saying, "The trouble with this country is…"” [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The nation's problem is its endless self‑criticism, which distracts from addressing real issues. **In simple terms:** Too much complaining hinders progress. Key Takeaway Limit self‑criticism. Themes society criticism distraction Mood critical analytical Type satire observational When to use this quote - public discourse - policy making - media consumption Key Concepts political commentary social analysis Questions to Reflect On - How does constant complaining affect change? - What alternatives to criticism exist? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Country People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country-people/) [Funny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny/) [Humorous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humorous/) [Patriotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patriotism/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) ## Related quotes > [Everything you try to do in life, of any value, people are going to be saying, 'No, no, no.' 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If you try to navigate it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-norton/you-can-t-worry-about-saying-something-that-will-get-you-in-trouble/) [Jim Norton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-norton/) > [“People would say, ‘The trouble with soccer today is that there is too much coaching.’ That’s like saying, ‘The trouble with school is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-would-say-the-trouble-with-soccer-today-is-that-there-is-too/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The trouble with this country,” the late John Berryman once told fellow poet James Dickey, “is that a man can live his entire life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sheehan/the-trouble-with-this-country-the-late-john-berryman-once-told-fellow/) [George Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sheehan/) > [That's the one trouble with this country: everything, weather, all, hangs on too long. Like our rivers, our land: opaque, slow, violent; shaping and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/that-s-the-one-trouble-with-this-country-everything-weather-all-hangs/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [A prophet is not without honor except in his own country among his own people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-ra/a-prophet-is-not-without-honor-except-in-his-own-country-among-his/) [Sun Ra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-ra/) > [We have forgotten that we have not come to an empty land to inherit it, but we have come to conquer a country from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moshe-sharett/we-have-forgotten-that-we-have-not-come-to-an-empty-land-to-inherit/) [Moshe Sharett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moshe-sharett/) > [I don't have a problem with being black in a white country or being with my people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tina-turner/i-don-t-have-a-problem-with-being-black-in-a-white-country-or-being/) [Tina Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tina-turner/) > [I'd like to say that people... people can change anything they want to; and that means everything in the world. Show me any country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-strummer/i-d-like-to-say-that-people-people-can-change-anything-they-want-to/) [Joe Strummer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-strummer/) > [In other parts of the country people tried to stay together for the sake of the children. In New York they tried to work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/in-other-parts-of-the-country-people-tried-to-stay-together-for-the/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [No country and no people can be free and ignorant at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/no-country-and-no-people-can-be-free-and-ignorant-at-the-same-time/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I do think I'm country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hunt/i-do-think-i-m-country-but-your-definition-of-that-word-might-be/) [Sam Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hunt/) > [After long centuries, agrarian civilization is weakening. Is sufficient attention being devoted to the arrangement and improvement of the life of the country people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-paul-vi/after-long-centuries-agrarian-civilization-is-weakening-is-sufficient/) [Pope Paul VI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-paul-vi/) ## More by Sinclair Lewis > [“She found beauty in the children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-found-beauty-in-the-children/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [What is Love? Listen! It is the rainbow that stands out, in all its glorious many-colored hues, illuminating and making glad again the dark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/what-is-love-listen-it-is-the-rainbow-that-stands-out-in-all-its/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [When you think that most of us are doomed by divine grace to roast in hell, to say nothing of mortgages and hail and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/when-you-think-that-most-of-us-are-doomed-by-divine-grace-to-roast-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [He loved the people just as much as he feared and detested persons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/he-loved-the-people-just-as-much-as-he-feared-and-detested-persons/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“He had expected that traditionally Republican Vermont would give him too drearily easy a task in preaching Trowbridge. What he found was a dismaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/he-had-expected-that-traditionally-republican-vermont-would-give-him/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Day on day he waited. So much of a revolution for so many people is nothing but waiting. That is one reason why tourists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/day-on-day-he-waited-so-much-of-a-revolution-for-so-many-people-is/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“She continued it to Hugh, 'Darling, do you know what mother and you are going to find beyond the blue horizon rim?' 'What?' flatly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/she-continued-it-to-hugh-darling-do-you-know-what-mother-and-you-are/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Is it possible that nobody has ever known that there never has been a completely civilized man, and won't be for another thousand years?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/is-it-possible-that-nobody-has-ever-known-that-there-never-has-been-a/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“I think perhaps we want a more conscientious life. We're tired of drudging and sleeping and dying. We're tired of always deferring hope to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/i-think-perhaps-we-want-a-more-conscientious-life-we-re-tired-of/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [It might be the doing of Satan, in whom Aaron anxiously believed with all of his being except, perhaps, his mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/it-might-be-the-doing-of-satan-in-whom-aaron-anxiously-believed-with/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The author says one character's definition of a classic is any book he'd heard of before he was thirty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-author-says-one-character-s-definition-of-a-classic-is-any-book/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Like all males, he hated to confess ignorance by asking directions,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/like-all-males-he-hated-to-confess-ignorance-by-asking-directions/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/winter-is-not-a-season-it-s-an-occupation/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“Author sees the "congested idealism" of the generally discontent as reservoir that will support centralized power even while disagreeing with many specific provisions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/author-sees-the-congested-idealism-of-the-generally-discontent-as/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) > [“The poor we have always with us, and the purpose of the Lord in providing the poor is to enable us of the better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sinclair-lewis/the-poor-we-have-always-with-us-and-the-purpose-of-the-lord-in/) [Sinclair Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) [Explore all 196 Sinclair Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sinclair-lewis/) ## More America quotes > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/) [Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/) > [ I'll smoke, I'll cough, I'll get the tumors, I'll die, deal? Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. 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